


The Enchanted Hawk

by Alona



Category: Sneedronningen | The Snow Queen - Hans Christian Andersen
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 14:41:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1095170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alona/pseuds/Alona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which the robber girl encounters a dysfunctional royal family and makes the most of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Enchanted Hawk

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gehayi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gehayi/gifts).



**Part I - The Hunting Party**  
  
There was once a robber girl who left her home and went out into the wide world in search of fortune and adventure.  In place of a pure heart and the beauty of an angel, the robber girl had a sharp knife, a pair of good pistols, and a fast horse, and she was prepared to lie, cheat, and steal her way into the possession of anything else she happened to covet in her travels.  It may well be assumed that as a result she came to no good, but you may judge for yourself whether that is the case.  
  
Now, one evening, the robber girl was riding through a rich little country surrounded by mountains.  She had aimed to reach its principal town by nightfall, but the road had been longer than she expected.  When she saw that a wood lay in her path, she cut through it.  And when she saw that the wood's underbrush was full of fat, docile rabbits, she caught a pair and made camp in a glade to prepare them for her dinner.  Soon the rabbits were roasting over a merry fire, giving off a delicious smell.  
  
Before the rabbits were ready to eat, the robber girl heard noises in the forest around her, as of a company on horseback.  She jumped instantly to her feet, a pistol ready in each hand, but half a dozen riders on magnificent horses were already spilling out of the trees to surround her.  All were very finely dressed, and all but one had a rifle raised to his shoulder and aimed at the robber girl.  The last, the finest looking one of all, drew his horse into the circle made by the rest.  He was the youngest of the group, and he looked very out of temper.    
  
"Put those toys away," he said.  "Don't you see we have real weapons?"  
  
Indeed, in addition to the rifles, all the men had swords at their waists, whose jeweled hilts glittered enticingly in the firelight.  The robber girl judged that this was a noble hunting party, trailing home after a day's sport.  Then, while routinely appraising all their belongings for their value, she noticed a peculiar detail: a hooded hawk with beautiful gold and white plumage was perched on the head of the youngest lord's horse.  The hawk's foot was attached to the horse's reins by a short gold chain.  Strange that he should be the only one with a bird, and stranger still that he should have it with him at all, when it couldn't be of any use in a hunt if it had to be kept chained.    
  
The robber girl tucked her pistols back into her belt for the time being.  
  
"What do you want with me, my lord?" she asked.    
  
The lord made an irritated noise and looked more ill-tempered than ever.  
  
"He's the King, girl," said one of the others, perhaps trying to be helpful.  "You're in the royal wood."  
  
"Sire," said the robber girl, beginning to be impatient.    
  
"Exactly," said the King.  "And what, my girl, do you think is the punishment for poaching the King's game?"  And he swept his arm towards the fire, where the rabbits were in grave danger of becoming overdone.    
  
"I'm sure I don't know, sire," said the robber girl, though this was certainly a lie.  Her previous experience with kings, and for that matter all other varieties of monarch, gave her a pretty good idea of the sorts of punishments they went in for.  
  
"Death!" cried the same helpful lord.  "The punishment is death, sire."  
  
"Yes, thank you," said the King, not looking the least bit grateful.  "Make peace with your gods, villain.  We will kill you ourselves.  Perhaps we'll give you a head start, on foot, of course, and hunt you.  We have had poor sport today."  
  
"I see," said the robber girl.  "But just think, sire: your rabbits are about to go to waste.  Why not let me serve you and your companions this dinner, which is yours by right, and afterwards you can kill me at your leisure."  
  
The King received this plan with some skepticism, but his companions quickly prevailed upon him to accept the robber girl's offer.  
  
When the riders had all dismounted and were sitting around the fire, the robber girl made a sign to her horse.  This horse was an intelligent animal who had a great terror of her mistress, and who had in consequence learned to understand all manner of signs.  Obeying this particular one, she stamped her hooves, then reared up.  The other horses, made nervous by this, did likewise.  They were soon calmed, but in the meantime the robber girl had reached into her pocket for a strong sleeping powder and sprinkled it over the rabbits, all without being seen.  The entire hunting party accepted the meal and ate hungrily.  
  
In a few minutes they were all fast asleep.  The robber girl took all that she and her horse could carry of their valuables, and last of all she took the King's gold and white hawk and tied its chain to her own horse's reins.  She was sure there had to be something special about this hawk, and at the very least the King would miss it.  
  
Then she led the hunting party's horses to edge of the wood and released them.    
  
"Maybe I should've taken one of them in your place and sold you to the sausage man," she said to her own horse.  "You're getting a little long in the tooth."    
  
The horse, though afraid of her mistress, was mainly offended by this remark.  The nobles' horses were all stupid, nervous creatures, and the robber girl would never have got on with any of them.    
  
 **Part II - The Hawk's Story**  
  
When the robber girl reached the town at last, she sold a bit of her stolen wealth and took a room at an inn.  After a hearty supper, she locked herself into the room with the hawk and carefully removed the hood.  
  
As soon as her hood was removed, the hawk began to speak in a direct, commanding way.  "Who are you, girl?  Have you rescued me?"  
  
"I've stolen you," said the robber girl.  
  
"That is not important.  When you have heard my story, you will see that it is in your interest to help me."    
  
"And what is your story?"  
  
"I am not a hawk at all.  I am a Queen."  And the hawk puffed out her chest with a great deal of pride.  This on its own didn't convince the robber girl that she was telling the truth, for hawks in general are rather proud.  
  
"How did you come to be a hawk, then?"  
  
"My son, who wanted to be King very badly and could not stand to wait for it, paid a magician from a distant land to enchant me and turn me into a hawk.  He announced to the kingdom that I had died in a hunting accident, and then he had the magician killed.  That was clever of him, wasn't it?"  
  
"It would have been very stupid of him to let the magician live," said the robber girl.  
  
"Unfortunately," said the Queen, "he is very stupid, in general, though he is my own son.  He has only kept me alive to consult with me on matters of statecraft.  The rest of the time he has kept this ghastly magic hood on me, so I could not tell anyone of my plight.  I have had to help him from time to time, to keep the kingdom from falling into ruin.  I feel my responsibilities as Queen very keenly, I assure you."    
  
"What do you want from me?"  
  
"When I am returned to my throne, I will become a woman again.  You can help me overthrow my usurping son by getting word of my circumstances to my loyal subjects."  
  
"And what will you give me in return?"  
  
"It is a pity you are not a prince or even a lord, for if you were I would give you my daughter's hand in marriage, as well as the dowry I have set aside for her.  She is considered a great beauty, and she is very learned.  I hear that she has locked herself in her tower, no doubt out of grief for my supposed death."  
  
"But since I'm not a prince or a lord, what will you give me instead?"  The robber girl in fact wanted to hear more about the Princess, but being very practical she preferred to have the question of a reward settled first.    
  
"I will give you a generous royal purse.  If you are especially helpful, I may give you a title as well."  
  
"That's fair," said the robber girl.  "Now, if I help you and you go back on your word, I'll kill you."  
  
"How vulgar you are.  I am glad that there is no occasion for me to promise you my daughter's hand in marriage."    
  
"Yes, about your daughter," said the robber girl.  "I was just about to ask: what should I do if I want to see her in her tower?"  
  
"You could to worse than speak to Mistress Flax, who is head of the Guild of Seamstresses.  She is a good friend of my daughter.  The Princess," said the Queen in a low, confidential sort of squawk, "has all kinds of odd friends."    
  
"Should I tell Mistress Flax what's happened to you?"  
  
"I think you had better not," said the Queen, looking nervous.  It is such a funny thing to see a hawk look nervous that the robber girl had to laugh.  The Queen began to lecture her about her ill-breeding, at which point the robber girl fitted the hood back over the Queen's head.  She fixed the end of the gold chain to her bed post before going to sleep with one hand wrapped around the hilt of her knife.  All night she dreamed of learned princesses and royal purses.    
  
 **Part III - The Skirmish in the Square**  
  
In the morning the robber girl sent her travel-stained coat and boots to be cleaned.  When she was dressed to her satisfaction, she came downstairs to ask the innkeeper where she was likely to find Mistress Flax.  
  
"You can try the Guild Hall," he said, "though I don't know whether she'll have any time to spare for the likes of you."  
  
"And what do you mean by that?" asked the robber girl.  
  
"Only that our Mistress Flax is a strange one.  Gives speeches in public squares, sets her girls and Tailors' Guild fellows to fight with the King's Guards, consorts with scholars and low people of all kinds."  
  
"I'd heard she was friends with the Princess."  
  
"Another strange one," said the innkeeper, shaking his head sadly.  "And she's only worse now the Queen is dead.  All barricaded up in that tower of hers, refusing to come out.  I've heard she made explosives and threw them down the stairs when the King set his men to fetch her down.  The steps are all barricaded with rubble and no one can come in or out. "  
  
"She sounds like an unusually useful Princess."  
  
"The old buzzard had some funny ideas about educating her children.  You see it hasn't turned out any better than her other schemes."  
  
"The Queen wasn't a very good ruler, then?" asked the robber girl.  
  
The innkeeper laughed.  "Tell me another."  
  
The robber girl began to think that finding loyal subjects of the Queen would be no easy task.  
  
She went to find the Guild Hall and get an idea of the town's layout.  It was a busy, crowded place with most of its important buildings clustered around a handful of squares.  The royal palace filled the upper slopes of a hill to one side of the town.  It was a squat, stony kind of palace, with only a single tower rising to one side to adorn it.  
  
"It must be the Princess's tower," the robber girl thought.    
  
While the robber girl was crossing one of the squares, she saw a crowd of townsfolk gathered around a wooden platform where a round little woman was speaking.  The noise of the crowd was too loud for the robber girl to hear most of the words, but she caught a few here and there.  "Citizens" and "rights" came up quite a bit.  The woman had a forgotten length of measuring tape around her neck, which flapped around whenever she made an especially emphatic point.  It only took the sight of a pair of King's Guards skulking on the other side of the square to convince the robber girl that this had to be the strange Mistress Flax.  The guardsmen looked uncomfortable and conspicuous in their bright uniforms.    
  
Before the speech was over, the uncomfortable guardsmen were joined by reinforcements.  These reinforcements numbered at least a dozen, and they didn't look uncomfortable; they looked set for a fight.  The robber girl, seeing them make small gestures towards Mistress Flax and the crowd, crept towards the platform.  She crouched beside it, cocked both of her pistols, and waited.  
  
Soon enough two of the new guardsmen stormed the platform, shouting at Mistress Flax, while the others tried to surround the spectators.  The robber girl took aim and shot both men on the platform, for it was obvious to her that they were planning to arrest or kill just the woman she needed to speak to.  
  
The guardsmen fell, one dead, the other with a bullet lodged in his leg.  As quick as lightning a fight broke out between the crowd and the guardsmen, and more guardsmen began to pour into the square from the alleys, while townsfolk poured out of houses and low windows around the square.  It turned out that many of the townsfolk in the crowd had taken the precaution of bringing weapons, and soon the square dissolved into bloody chaos.  As long as she had shot for her pistols, the robber girl stayed by the platform, doing her best to pick off guardsmen.  When she ran out of shot, she grabbed a dead guardsman's sword and waded into the fray.  
  
The fight did not last long.  The guardsmen were beaten back to the alleys, at which point they and the townsfolk disappeared, leaving only the wounded and dead, and Mistress Flax, who had been watching from the platform.    
  
"You there!" she said, waving at the robber girl.  "What did you think you were doing?"  
  
"Those men were going to arrest you," said the robber girl.  She wiped a bit of someone else's blood from her face.  "I stopped them."  
  
"And why did you do that?"  
  
"Because I need to talk to you.  I can't do that if you're in jail."  
  
"Let's talk someplace more suitable, then."  
  
Together, the robber girl and Mistress Flax went to the Guild Hall, where Mistress Flax ordered them tea.  
  
"To settle my nerves," she explained.  She didn't look as though her nerves needed settling.  "What did you need me for?"  
  
"I'd like to see the Princess," said the robber girl.  "I heard you'd be able to help me."  
  
"And where did you hear that?"  
  
"Around.  Is it true?  I've got some information for her I think she'll want to know."    
  
"Really?  Can you tell me?"  
  
"No, it has to be the Princess.  I'm going to help her overthrow the King."  
  
For some reason Mistress Flax found this very entertaining.  She put down her teacup and gave a rich, hearty laugh that went on and on.  The robber girl was getting very angry by the time Mistress Flax got herself under control.    
  
"You're a dangerous young woman," she said.  "What's your interest in overthrowing kings?"  
  
"They offend me," said the robber girl.  
  
"Fair enough," said Mistress Flax.  "As it happens, they offend me, too.  And as you've done me a good turn today, I'll tell you how you can get in to see the Princess.  The King is holding a masked ball at the palace tonight.  You'll go to it and sneak away as soon as the dancing begins.  I can draw you a map to show you where to go from the ballroom.  When you reach a certain alcove in the wing near the Princess's tower, one of the palace maids, who is a connection of mine, will be waiting for you.  She'll show you how to get to the top of the tower.  She's the one who brings the Princess her supplies in secret, so she never has to come down."  
  
"Will I need an invitation to go to the ball?" asked the robber girl.  
  
"No, but you will need a costume."  
  
Mistress Flax gave two loud whistles, and a pair of young women came rushing from somewhere in the hall.  She ordered them to take the robber girl away and make her a splendid costume, which they did as fast as you could blink.  
  
 **Part IV - The Princess in the Tower**  
  
The robber girl was delighted with her new costume and even more delighted at the thought of going to the King's ball and partaking of the King's hospitality without his having any idea.  In pursuit of this private satisfaction, she didn't leave as soon as the dancing started.  She ate the King's food, drank the King's wine, danced and gossiped with the fashionable courtiers, and only snuck away after the King himself had put in an appearance, quite late in the evening.  
  
The maid was waiting for her in the alcove, just as Mistress Flax had said.  The robber girl had expected her to be angry about the delay, but she was too engaged in reading a novel to mind.  It took the robber girl a few moments to get her attention.  When she had, the maid opened a secret door in the wall and led the robber girl through a series of winding passages and stairways.  At the top of the last staircase, she showed her the section of wall to move aside to get into the Princess's rooms.  Then she fled, presumably to continue reading her novel somewhere more comfortable.   
  
The robber girl meanwhile pushed open the wall and came out into a messy study.  At once a lovely, dark young woman sprang up from a very cluttered desk and stood in the middle of the room, eyeing the robber girl over a stack of books.  
  
"What are you doing here?  Who let you in?"  
  
She had a piece of blotting paper in her hand and was brandishing it like a weapon.  The robber girl found herself liking the young woman very much indeed.  
  
"Mistress Flax's friend," she said.  "I told her I needed to talk to you.  It's about -- you are the Princess, aren't you?"  
  
"This is the Princess's very private study, in the Princess's extremely locked tower.  I should hope I'm the Princess, or else I'd be in trouble.  Now, you were telling me what this little interruption is about?"  
  
"Your mother."  
  
"What about her?  Here, come sit."  The Princess shoved a stack of papers aside to make room on a sofa, where she and the robber girl sat down.  
  
The robber girl began to explain how she had come to steal the King's hawk.  The Princess was so pleased with the story that she made the robber girl back up and tell her about herself, and how she had come to be in the royal wood in the first place.  It was some time before the robber girl got to the part where the hawk had turned out to be a Queen.  Finally, she explained how she had met Mistress Flax and gained her trust.  
  
When she had heard the whole story, the Princess shook her head and said, "Just like my brother to ruin things this way.  It was so convenient having her dead!"  
  
"Because you want to be Queen instead?" asked the robber girl.  
  
"No, no, that's not it all.  I don't want to be Queen.  I'm a scholar, and I don't believe in monarchy.  I want to travel the wide world and learn everything I can."  
  
The robber girl was beginning to understand what Mistress Flax had found so amusing.  She said, "Then why don't you go do that, instead of hiding in this tower?"  
  
"If I leave this tower, my brother will capture me and force me to marry some simpering lord or tiresome prince.  If my mother becomes Queen again, she'll do the same.  What will I do now that she's turned up?"  
  
"If it helps," said the robber girl, "you're the only one I've told.  You don't actually have to do anything."  The robber girl began to think she would rather help the Princess escape from her tower than help the Queen return to her throne.  Anyway, she was not at all certain that the Queen had any loyal subjects to speak of, which would make the job of helping her very difficult.  
  
"Yes, that does help," said the Princess, though she still looked a little unsure.  "But we'll still have to do something about her."  
  
The robber girl, in fact, had a simple solution to this problem, but she didn't think the Princess would be open to it just yet.  To distract her for the moment, the robber girl asked, "So, who's going to be in charge, if it isn't going to be you, or your mother, or your brother?"  
  
"At first, I rather think Mistress Flax will.  She's a good leader, and she cares about the people."  
  
"Of course," said the robber girl, and then she laughed.  "I like that idea very much. And I like you very much, too, so I'm going to help you escape from your brother, and your mother, and anyone else who wants to come butting in."  
  
"Are you sure?" asked the Princess. "I'm afraid I don't have anything to offer you as a reward."  
  
"Nothing at all?"  
  
"I could offer you my dowry. As I have no intention of marrying a prince or lord, I won't be needing it. But, you see, I don't have it here in the tower. It's locked in two big chests in the palace's vaults."  
  
"That's perfect," said the robber girl. "I can't tell you how many vaults I've broken into. If you tell me where to find your dowry, I'll have no trouble stealing it. Then I'll get you out of this tower."  
  
For a moment the Princess's eyes lit up with excitement. Then her face fell.  "No, no, that won't work."  
  
"What's wrong now?"  
  
"Once I've left the tower, my brother will send his soldiers to capture me. That's why I haven't left by the secret passage, which I could have done any time."  
  
"Oh, if that's all that's worrying you," said the robber girl, "you can stop right now. You'll come with me, and I'll protect you against the soldiers. No, even better than that!  I'll teach you to protect yourself.  It's silly, a girl like you worrying about soldiers.  We'll get you a horse and a knife, and travel all over the wide world, just like I've been doing on my own.  You can learn about anything you like.  How does that sound?  No, don't start crying!"  
  
But she didn't mind as much when the Princess began to laugh through her tears.  When the robber girl had dried her eyes, the Princess said, "That sounds like everything I've ever wanted.  And you know what?  I've thought of just the thing to do with my mother."  
  
"And what's that?" asked the robber girl.  
  
"Turn her over to Mistress Flax, of course."  
  
"I think you're right," said the robber girl.  "That's just the thing for her.  And now, let's talk about your dowry."  
  
 **Part V - Conclusion**

Very early the next morning, while the sky was still gray with waiting for the sun, the robber girl left the Princess's tower by the secret passage and sauntered out of the palace with the last of the guests.  The whole way back to her inn, the robber girl laughed to herself about how well everything had turned out.  Her one regret was that she wouldn't get to see how the King reacted to finding out what had happened, but she would make up for that by letting the Queen know all her plans.  
  
When she got back to her inn, she made sure that the gold chain was fastened securely to her bedpost.  Then she took the Queen's hood off again.  
  
"Are you back at last, then?" said the Queen.  "I have been most uncomfortable waiting for you here.  Tell me, how will my loyal subjects right this dreadful wrong?"  
  
"Begging your feathered majesty's pardon," said the robber girl in her most courtly manner, "but I couldn't seem to find a single loyal subject."  
  
"Have you spoken to my daughter?"  
  
"I certainly have," said the robber girl.  "You were absolutely right.  She is very beautiful, and also very scholarly.  And she has agreed to travel the wide world with me and give me her dowry, so I suppose it hasn't mattered after all that I'm not a prince or a lord."  
  
It took the Queen a few seconds to absorb what the robber girl had said.  Quite naturally it came as a shock.  But once she had understood, she let loose with a torrent of far less refined language than suited the dignity of a Queen.  The robber girl let her run on, because she found the Queen's anger very entertaining.  Eventually the Queen's inventiveness ran out, and that was when the robber girl interrupted her.  
  
"The Princess also thinks that the best thing to do with you is to hand you over to Mistress Flax.  That's all right with me, though if it had been my decision, I'd have wrung your neck like a chicken's."  
  
The Queen had very little to say in response to this further news, so the robber girl fitted the hood back over her head, stuffed her in a box, and took her to the Guild Hall.  There she found Mistress Flax and explained the whole story to her.  She knew it was an altogether unlikely story, so she wasn't offended when Mistress Flax didn't believe her at first.  When the Queen was given a chance to speak, though, Mistress Flax recognized her at once and gave her rich, hearty laugh.  
  
"You've done us all a great service here," said Mistress Flax, "and, now that I think about it, so has the King, though I'm sure he didn't mean to.  We'll treat her majesty exactly how she deserves to be treated."  
  
When she had sent the Queen off with some of her people who had been loitering in the Guild Hall, Mistress Flax asked the robber girl what her plans for the future were.  
  
"If you'd like to stay and help us overthrow the King, we wouldn't refuse."  
  
"Thank you," said the robber girl, "but I'll be on my way in a few days.  Just tell me where I can buy a good horse.  I'll have a traveling companion when I leave."  
  
Two nights after that, the robber girl visited the Princess again, and they came down from the tower together to steal the Princess's dowry.  
  
"It's best to get you started right away," the robber girl had said.  
  
The Princess showed the robber girl how to get to the vault.  They had no trouble getting in, and no one stopped them as they carried the heavy chests out of the palace to the horses waiting beyond its walls.  The robber girl's horse was not yet entirely resigned to this new creature, but she had to admit that he could be a useful ally against the robber girl and her new companion.   
  
"I hope you can ride," said the robber girl.  
  


"Of course I can ride," said the Princess.  "What kind of Princess do you think I am?"  And she jumped onto her new horse without so much as touching the stirrups.  
  
The robber girl nodded approvingly.  The Princess was turning out to be just as useful as she had thought.  
  
And so, loaded down with treasure and with the wide world open ahead of them, the robber girl and the Princess rode out into the gathering dawn, away from a town which was about wake to find itself embroiled in a most interesting political situation. 


End file.
